Create PVS SSL Certificates for Login

To log in to a PVS server with SSL certificates, you must create the certificates using the pvs-make-cert command.

Note: When asked if you want to create a server certificate, select no to be prompted for the user certificate information.

Steps

On the PVS server, run the pvs-make-cert command.

Operating System

Command

Linux

# /opt/pvs/bin/pvs-make-cert

Windows

C:\Program Files\Tenable\PVS\pvs-make-cert

macOS

# /Library/PVS/bin/pvs-make-cert

Configure the client certificate by answering the various questions.

The client certificates generate in a temporary directory.

Operating System

Directory

Linux

/tmp/

Windows

C:\users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp, where <username> is the user currently logged in.

macOS

/tmp/

Two files are created in the temporary directory. In an example where the user name is admin, the files cert_admin.pem and key_admin.pem are created. These two files must be combined and exported into a format that may be imported into the web browser, such as .pfx. You can accomplish this with the openssl program and the following command:

The resulting file combined_admin.pfx is created in the directory from which the command is launched. This file must then be imported into the web browser’s personal certificate store.

Note: The username you enter must correspond with an existing username in PVS. By default, PVS has only one administrative user. If you add another administrative user, then you can use more than one certificate.

Configure the PVS server for certificate authentication using the appropriate command for your OS. Once certificate authentication is enabled, username and password login is disabled.